Local Researchers Available Worldwide

Family History

June 24, 1990|By VIRGINIA H. ROLLINGS Staff Writer

Local researchers are contributing significant family histories which will be placed in international microfilm catalogs.

Several years ago the genealogical records of Bertha Ironmonger and her daughter, Thelma Hansford, both of York County, were microfilmed. Their family histories are now available for reference by genealogists around the world.

The work of other local persons meet the requirements of the genealogical microfilming department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

These works will soon be added to the microfilm author catalog.

* Dean Alexander Doyal of Newport News has compiled the first volume of "The Dyal Family of Wales in America." His work begins with the present family and documents each generation back to Edward Doyal (Dyal), born circa 1705 in Wales who came to Virginia prior to 1750. Doyals are trailed through many states, many name changes and war experiences.

* Jay D. Andrews of Yorktown will be in the international index with his history of "The Harmon Shipman Clan of Northumberland County, Pa." He combined deeds, probate and census records, cemetery inscriptions and personal recollections and war records.

* Gayle King Blankenship of Poquoson has detailed genealogies of the families of King, Watts, Bridges, Freeman and Pope who originated in Surry and Isle of Wight counties and migrated to North Carolina. Also researched are is the Croshaw family of Jamestown, the the families of Makennie, Faircloth, Hill, Robbins and Blackwell of York County.

* William Milner of Newport News has computerized a work on Milner families, early land holders in Nansemond County. The name is found in the publication "Nansemond Court Clerks' Fee books, 1789-1800." This work was one of the efforts of the late William L. Litsey, a distinguished Hampton genealogist, and was published by the Tidewater Genealogical Society.

* Jerome D. Traver, an archaeologist and resident of Williamsburg, has completed two histories, one on the Richards of Canada and Connecticutt, one on the Traver family. Both trace each generation to the present.

Guillame Richard, 1640-1690, son of Jean Richard and Anne Meusnier, is traced from Saint Leger, France.

The Traver family history carries extensive family groupings for many generations.

* Dolly Vick of Newport News published the Shields family history years ago. She has added a work on the Phillips family of York County which contains photocopies of pictures of old Poquoson residents, dwellings, churches, ships, Bible records and obituaries. Descendants to the present are traced from Nicholas Phillips, who received a York County land patent in 1683.

* Ashby S. Wilson of Hampton began with his ancestor Robert T. Wilson, 1826-1921, whose origins are in York County. He acknowledges assistance from historians "Willie" Ironmonger and Dr. Hazel Davis of Hampton. Wilson manuscripts compiled by several local researchers are in the Family History Center; they may be filmed if volunteers prepare and index them.

* Robert R. Zins of Newport News researched the Zins family, German people who came into Maryland and migrated through the Valley of Virginia. He also developed a booklet entitled "100 Years of Veteran Care 1870-1970." The Hampton Veterans Administration Center is reviewed with the story of the girls school, Chesapeake Female College, which operated there several years prior to the Civil War. The five-floor building was abandoned at the onset of the Civil War and used by Confederate soldiers. Later it became a Union Army hospital.

* Lucille McMillan of Poquoson and Katie Pobst Westman published "Nine Roads From Cloverdale" with excellent photos of people and places in major genealogies of the names Pobst, Halliday, Beckner, Graybill, Moomaw, Richardson, Westman and Stover families.